[rescue] WTB: Good 'antique' computer for education

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

Dave McGuire wrote:


> > 3000, I think), but the guy wants ~$150 each, which seems horribly
> > unreasonable to me. He says he doesn't care if he sells 'em or not. He
> > seems to think he'll get his price from someone for "collector value".
> 
>   And he might do just that.  One never knows.



I hope he does. It's the same shop where I got my SS20 for free. They
couldn't boot it (bad serial controller on the system board, so no
keyboard input), so one of the employees gave it to me. In retrospect,
after talking to him about the VAXes, I doubt the owner would have done
the same. He wasn't there the day that happened.


> with EIGHT VAXstation-3100/m38 boxes.
> 
>   But even worse, I have upwards of THIRTY DECstation-3100 boxes.  And a
> few DECstation-5000s.  I would like to find new homes for the majority

Worse yet is the fact that I used to have a 19" and a 16" monitor from a
DECStation someone else scrapped years ago. They were unfortunatly
damaged in a flood and my wife had them hauled away. Before that,
though, I didn't know what to do with them 'till one day I had an
idea...

I had a peecee with a video card with a Cirrus Logic chip that was
capable of wonderful things at the time. I called Cirrus and they sent
me the FULL specs (and I do mean full - over 800 pages) for the chip. I
hacked a cable to run the sync on green that the monitor needed, and
wrote a driver for the chip to run at the right frequency. Don't even
remember what it was now, though I still have it on a hard drive in a
box somewhere on a slackware system. X only, it wouldn't do text mode.

Oooh, was that nice, for then. You probably don't have monitors for the
DECs you have, do you?



>   There is also a VAX8700 here that I'd like to find a new home for.
> This is a BIG machine (~1800 lbs) so don't ask if you're not serious.


Oh, I'm serious, but I don't know how I'd get it in the basement. I have
a friend with a flatbed tow truck, and I'm only right up the road in
B-more, but unless it can be disassembled, I probably can't do it.

What kind of power does it need? 



>   I'm quite aware that the resale value of this type of equipment is
> very low nowadays.  For those who are listening, this very effectively
> teaches us the difference between "worthless" and "useless".


Yep, I know the feeling. I've got about a cubic ton of old peecee
hardware.


> Therefore I would ask for very little, if any, real money in return


That's good, because i have very little, if any, real money.


> for any of this hardware.  Trades are always a good idea.  My "wants"
> list can be found at http://www.neurotica.com/wants.html.


I'll have a look.


>   One thing that I will insist upon, though, is that any equipment you
> get from me will not get scrapped. 


You can count on that, to my wife's regret. She lets me keep stuff,
though, provided it all fits in the basement.


> If it winds up sitting around
> collecting dust, give it to someone who will use it, or send it back
> to me.  Don't throw it in the trash.  The trash is for old coffee
> cups, cheeseburger wrappers, and catbox skimmings...not computer
> hardware.


Agreed.


What would you recommend as a useable system? Judging from the short
time I've been on the list, I think I'd be safe following your
suggestion.

Thanks...


---sambo